United Posts Fewest Sunday Cancellations of Big Four as Kirby Says American Merger Is ‘100%’ Approvable

CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2026 — United Airlines appears to be recovering fastest among the four largest U.S. airlines after Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop. It had 100 Sunday cancellations as of 8:04 a.m. ET, per FlightAware data cited by Men’s Journal, compared with 368 at American, 177 at Southwest and 171 at Delta. Saturday was rougher: United had canceled 733 flights by 2:48 p.m. ET, per Yahoo News.

What happened

The FAA halted departures nationwide on the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 13, after a communications failure hit multiple air route traffic control centers. The stop began at about 3:53 p.m. ET and was lifted at about 8:15 p.m. ET. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the outage started during contractor L3Harris’s work moving lines from copper to fiber at a remote FAA site; officials said there was no evidence of a cyberattack. FAA Administrator Bedford said many crews and aircraft ended Friday out of position, which drove the weekend cancellations, and that airlines expect full schedules again by the close of business Sunday.

United canceled “a significant number” of Friday evening flights once the stop hit, VisaVerge reported.

The waiver

Covers original travel Nov. 13–15 (per Newsweek, Nov. 15).
Change fees and fare differences are waived for a new United flight departing by Nov. 20, same cabin and same cities. A different destination keeps the fee waiver but may carry a fare difference.
Customers can get a full refund under United’s refund policy.

Kirby on an American merger

Speaking at Yahoo Finance Invest (reported Nov. 14 by View from the Wing), CEO Scott Kirby said he is “100%” confident a United–American merger could win approval with divestitures, and that getting American to agree is the biggest obstacle. American has rejected merger discussions. View from the Wing’s Gary Leff argued that Justice Department approval would not be the only hurdle, pointing to possible challenges from state attorneys general and private plaintiffs and to reviews in Europe, the UK and Japan. No deal, filing or timeline exists.

What it means for non-revs

Of the big four, United had the lightest Sunday cancellation count. If you must travel today or Monday, it may be the best place to try — but its waiver allows rebooking through Nov. 20, so expect fuller-than-normal flights all week.
The merger talk changes nothing for pass travel today. American has said no, and any deal would need years of regulatory review. Treat it as background, not something to plan around.
With Thanksgiving week following right after, list early and have a backup if your trip can’t move.